A Blog Dedicated to the Study of the Gilded Age, Progressive Era, and history of the environment.

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Blizzard of 1888

As a reminder that there have been other blizzards in the northeast, I am sharing this article I wrote for The Encyclopedia of New York State, edited by Peter Eisenstadt (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2005), p.190.

Perhaps the most
famous snowstorm in American history, the Blizzard of 1888 is sometimes
referred to as the “Great White Hurricane.” The storm deposited as much as 50
inches of snow from northern Virginia to Maine. In all 400 deaths were
attributed to the Blizzard of 1888 and almost 200 ships were lost. There are no
adequate figures to reflect the monetary losses, but the entire northeast was
immobilized for a week. Buildings, rail lines, and telephone and telegraph
lines sustained heavy damage.

The Blizzard of
1888 began as an inauspicious low pressure system off the coast of North
Carolina. When the system drifted eastward on Sunday March 11, the National
Weather Service (NWS) estimated it would continue its path out to sea. As a
result, the NWS predicted moderate rain and winds for the Atlantic coastal
region from Virginia north to Maine. The NWS lacked oceanic monitoring
facilities and had no way of knowing that instead of following its predicted
course, the storm had moved due north. Furthermore the storm gained power on
the open Atlantic and the barometric pressure dropped dramatically. The storm had
turned into a cyclone.

Sunday, March 11,
1888 was a mild day on land with spring-like temperatures in the mid-fifties. Ships
at sea were the first to feel the effects of the storm. Captains piloted their
ships as best they could to the most accessible safe haven. At Lewes, Delaware,
a port hub of the Pennsylvania Railroad, ships started arriving into the harbor
at nightfall just as the storm did, creating chaotic and dangerous conditions.
In all thirty-five ships were destroyed in the harbor. In the late afternoon rain
started falling in Washington, D.C., and by evening, the downpour was torrential.
During the night the rain turned to snow. Rain also began to fall in New
Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, and across New England. No one sensed that
a major blizzard was imminent.

When the northeast
awoke on Monday morning, March 12, they were startled to see a blizzard. Strong,
bitterly cold winds blew frozen shards of snow horizontally, reducing
visibility, and making it nearly impossible for man or beast to walk in the
conditions. The snow downed telegraph and telephone wires, cutting the east
coast, including Washington, D.C. off from the rest of the nation as well as
from each other. Trains could not pass through accumulations of almost 50
inches of snow or the drifts which could be as high as 10 or 12 feet. Up and
down the eastern seaboard commuters were stranded, including the New York City
elevated trains which were stuck on the tracks with passengers helplessly
trapped inside. New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, DC, and New
Haven, Connecticut were all incapacitated by the blizzard, which reached as far
inland as Pittsburgh and Buffalo. Business virtually halted and essential goods
and services, such as daily coal or milk deliveries, could not be made. Rural
homes were equally affected, with the occupants locked in by the snow unable to
get out or tend to their animals. Cases of extreme kindness, such as residents
helping stranded commuters, were mixed with incidents of extreme greed, as in
the case of carriages giving rides in New York City for 50 dollars.

For most areas
affected by the blizzard, snow fell continuously for about 24 hours, and once it
stopped, repair crews were dispatched to fix the downed telegraph lines and get
the railroads running again. It would be another 48 hours before the trains
were moving, even on a limited basis. The storm continued across the Atlantic.
Although the system, which the Europeans referred to as “the American Blizzard,”
hit England and Germany its energy had dissipated and it caused only losses of
livestock.

The Blizzard of
1888 was one of the most important natural disasters in American history and
there were several significant outcomes. First, telegraph lines were moved
underground to prevent another national breakdown in communication. Second, New
York City realized that the elevated train lines were too vulnerable to the
weather to meet the demands of the national commercial and financial center and
began the process of constructing a subway system. Finally, the NWS realized
that it needed better oceanic and atmospheric monitoring, and placed stations
in Nassau, Bahamas, Bermuda, Newfoundland, as well as on Mount Washington in
New Hampshire.

About Me

I earned my PhD in 2002 from Lehigh University. I am the author of The Most Defiant Devil: William Temple Hornaday & His Controversial Crusade to Save American Wildlife (University of Virginia Press, 2013) and Chester A. Arthur: The Life of a Gilded Age President and Politician (Nova, 2007).